AYER – A freight train derailed in Ayer on Thursday morning, causing delays on the roads and tracks.
Train derailment in Ayer
It happened around 9 a.m. near Groton-Harvard Road. Video footage from the scene showed nine train cars leaving the tracks and falling on their sides.
According to the Ayer Fire Department, the cars were unloaded logging wagons.
According to Ayer police, the train derailed in the yard, blocking cars from passing over the nearby railroad tracks.
Therefore, drivers are asked to avoid Grocton-Harvard Road at Central Ave. and at East Main Street.
Railroad company representatives told firefighters that the Gordon-Harvard Road crossing was blocked and impassable for about an hour.
It will take “an extended period” to remove the rest of the wagons from the marshalling yard. Work is expected to begin late Thursday afternoon, once the appropriate equipment arrives.
CBS Boston
Delays in commuter trains
Several Fitchburg Line Commuter Rail trains were delayed due to the broken down freight train. After a short time, the trains were able to bypass the derailment, according to Commuter Rail.
Ayer police say the crime scene is expected to be cleared by late Thursday morning.
There is currently no further information available about the derailed train.
Previous train derailments in Ayer
In March 2023, a train derailed about a mile from the scene of Thursday’s incident, which happened in the area of Sculley Road.
Teams spent multiple days clean up after that derailment. Five wagons with 10 containers derailed during the incident in 2023.
No one was injured in the derailment, which involved a CSX train.
A neighbor who lived nearby at the time said this was the third derailment he could remember in about 50 years.
